Just got back from what turned out to be an amazing con.
Last year at BayCon, Rina Weisman approached me and said she was the chair for World Con 2026, to be held in Oakland, California.
She was in a bit of a bind. She expected a number of indie and small press authors to apply for space in the dealer hall, and didn’t have a lot of room to work with. So she asked if I would do a Liminal Fiction booth and support those authors.
I said sure (I mean, when do I ever say no? And yes, I am working on that with my therapist!). As the months went by, more and more authors found their way to us, and by the opening day, we had twenty-six great authors. I recommend that you check out each of them:
Amanda Pepper – https://mpepperlanglinais.com/about/Beth Barany – https://author.bethbarany.com/
Carly Feldman – https://www.carlyfeldmanwrites.com
Chelsea Day Chevalier
Clara Ward – https://clarawardauthor.wordpress.com/
Cody Sisco – https://www.codysisco.com
Derek Cressman – https://www.derekcressman.com/
Felicia Martínez – https://hi-felicia.beehiiv.com/
Glen Dahlgren – https://www.glendahlgren.com
Goldeen Ogawa – https://www.heliopause.pro
Gregory Amato – https://AmatoAuthor.com
Heather Rose Jones – https://alpennia.com/authors/heather-rose-jones
HL Bernabe – https://www.hlbernabe.com
John R. Fultz – fultzauthor.com
Karen G. Anderson – http://writerway.com/fiction
Karen McCoy – https://karenbmccoy.com/
Kim Headlee – Pendragon Cove Press – https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kim-iverson-headlee
M.D. Neu – https://www.mdneu.com
Matt Abraham – https://www.mattabrahambooks.com
Matt Maxwell – http://highway62press.com
Mia V. Moss – https://www.magicrobotcarnival.com
Peter Blaisdel – https://blaisdellliteraryenterprises.com/
Richard Moon – https://richardmoonbooks.com
Susan Ruff – https://www.emeraldcovepress.com
Timothy Robinson – https://www.intolesandros.com/
Zara Marielle – https://www.zaramarielle.com/
It’s the largest crew I’ve ever worked with, and I give Marvin (M.D. Neu) a lot of credit for whipping them into shape and getting them to work together. We also topped our biggest event sales total by 50%, a remarkable feat given that the con membership was much smaller than WorldCon.
I hosted a Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) reception at the con, and we actually had enough pizza for everyone, with a bit left over to donate to the hotel staff. I also spent a bit of time at the SFWA booth, evangelizing about the organization and the upcoming Nebula Awards convention, which I am running again next year… more on that next week.
But the Autographing Session Friday night was the highlight of the con. It was busy for two hours, we sold over 40 books, and I got to meet Tad Williams, one of my fantasy idols. I also say Kim Stanley Robinson (who I met at this year’s SacramentoBook festival), had lunch with Joe and Gay Haldeman, and rubbed elbows with a few other famous folks. Oh and I got to shake Robert Silverberg’s hand.
It was an amazing experience. I want to give special thanks to Rina for inviting me, to Glennis and her husband for doing such a great job managing the dealer room, to Marvin for handling the table, to all of pur participating authors (with whom many interesting conversations were had), to the SFWA board and staff who helped get out the word, and to my husband, Mark, who let me go while he stayed home and did not do Fantasy.
Time for a break from cons until next year!